


Love And Other Ill Timed Things

by QueenSquared



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allergies, Big bro Shiro, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaker Shiro, a lil angst I guess, alien lions, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 11:43:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8160983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSquared/pseuds/QueenSquared
Summary: Keith takes Lance to an alien planet to see real lions hoping to win his affection, but that's hard to do when your fellow paladins keep getting in the way.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea after Josh Keaton tweeted about being allergic to cats ^.^
> 
> Also I couldn't think of an original planet name. fight me.

Sometimes on late nights when Keith can't get to sleep, he'll sneak out of his room to sift through the castle logs.

He knew he should have been training. Every moment he spends doing something else is a complete waste of energy. But he found that after six straight hours of training, he has no energy left to waste.

So he wastes time instead.

He Feigns boredom with fascination, mulling over a catalog of planets with different types of minerals, plants and alien life. He kept note of all his favorites and penned all the ones he knew he'd never want to venture too. As he scrolled on and on, he began to understand why Pidge liked to indulge herself in these things.

 This happened for a couple of days. It wasn't meant to, but Keith found that he couldn't fall asleep at night unless he looked at the catalog even if it was only for five minutes. Something about meddling with a new technology made him at ease. He had nothing like this in the desert. The starvation from technology gave him a new obsession.

He was hours in, contrary to his belief, when all of a sudden, two clammy hands wrapped themselves around his shoulders.

Keith leapt up and whipped around, pinning his creeper to the floor. He was about to throw a punch when his eyes adjusted to the dark and he could recognize the face he was snarling into.

"Lance?"

The gangly boy laughed nervously under his grip and shrugged. "Uh yeah it's me, jumpy. What are you doing?"

Keith squinted. "None of your business! What are  _you_ doing?"

Lance had retorted an answer, but Keith didn't quite hear him. Instead, he was becoming aware of the creeping blush on his cheeks and the slight labor to his own breath. Lances eyelashes swept over his cheeks as he went on and on about his personal life. Keith couldn't help but notice the soft appearance of his hair and the smoothness of his skin.

And the confusion on his face.

"Uhm, Keith? You can get off me now."

Keith scrambled backwards and stood up, smoothing out his jacket

"You scared the shit out of me" he grumbled. He moved to go back to the computer, but Lance was quicker than him.

"Uh, no. Nonononono no you don't. You're hiding something from me."

Keith threw his hands up in the air. "I am not! I'm just reading planet logs. Jeez!"

Lance looked confused. "And why the heck would you want to do that?"

Keigh sighed and pushed Lance out of the way, sitting down in the chair. "I just couldn't sleep."

Keith thought he would leave, expecting a biting remark, but Lance stood there by the chair.

"That goes for the both of us."

He didn't know what to say. He wasn't much of a consoler so he just pulled up the stuff he left off with last night.

 He knew Lance's attention would be brought to the bottom left corner, and tried to swipe the image away so he would leave, but he was too late.

"Whoa, hey, was that Earth?"

Keith squeezed his eyes shut. "Yeah."

"How far away is it?"

Keith soughed and selected the planet. The computer zoomed in on the picture as well as a list of statistics.

"Oh, y'know, it's just a couple thousand kilometers away. Not that big of a deal."

Lance tensed behind him.

"Sure, at least not to you. You say that like you don't even miss earth."

"Maybe I don't." 

Lance was overwrought.

"You see, this is why I don't understand you. How could you not? Everyone else does!"

Keith hovered his hand over the shut down button. He thought back to the mess from the quintessence juice on his hand.

"Maybe because I'm not like any of you" he murmured.

Lance smirked and rolled his eyes.

"You're so melodramatic. Everyone's got something about Earth that they miss."

Lance swatted his hand away from the button and stared at the picture of Earth.

" I miss so many things I think about all the time. It's just...it's really hard."

Keith stared at him again. "Must be tough with a constant reminder hanging over your shoulder." 

Lance blinked. "What do you mean?"

Keith raised an eyebrow. "The Lions? Pretty earthly element right there."

Lance looked like he was thinking about it long and hard when he just shrugged.

"Never seen a real one, so it's not that important to me."

Usually Keith didn't let small things get to him, but this one really dug under skin. "You've never seen a real lion!?"

Lance cocked an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. They didn't exactly roam the streets of Cuba. And the Garrison certainly wasn't pet friendly."

Keith hadn't thought about it. He had been on the run for a long time, so long that he actually got to see more things than when he himself was enlisted in The Garrison.

He wondered what other things he'd seen that Lance hadn't. But as he wracked his brain for one ups, his mind kept going back to lions.

"This is absolutely tragic."

Lance snorted. "Oh for the love of God, can you not? It's not that big of a deal. I'm not sure about Shiro, but I know Hunk and Pidge haven't seen one either."

This wasn't the response Keith wanted, but it looked like it was the one he needed. He thought back to all the data he spent days sifting through, and felt smug at the idea of having the upper hand against Lance.

Picking one planet in mind, he actually smiled at Lance.

"Do you want to see some?"

Lance frowned. "We can't go back to earth, remember? Too far..."

Leith was back to frowning. "Unless there's another planet with a similar biosphere as Earth. With similar animal life like lions."

"As if such a place exists" the other boy huffed. Keith pointed his attention back to the screen.

Actually it does and it's called Alderaan. Look."

He opened up the database for the planets in the universe and pulled up the letter A. It only took him a moment to find it.

Lance stood in awe as he layed eyes upon the wildlife. It all looked spectacular, but the most amazing aspect was that they all resembled earthly creatures. Even though the lionlike animals had odd colored hair and sclera, Lance found familiarity in their appearance.

He couldn't help but wonder if these were the animals Voltron was based off of.

Keith's heart fluttered at the awe on Lance's face.

"I could take you there" he blurted. "Y'know if you'd like to go."

Lance's head whipped up in surprise. "You would do that?"

Keith coughed and looked away, tapping his fingers on the desk.

"Yeah. I'm sure Shiro won't mind. He'll realize he needs a break when I bring it up."

Lance looked 3 seconds from leaping at Keith and hugging him and Keith braced for impact. But he didn't move. He stood there, just sort of wobbling on his feet before he clapped him on the shoulder.

"Keith, my man, I knew you had a heart".

Keith had a heart alright. And it was pounding in his chest like a bat out of hell.


	2. Chapter 2

He didn't go to the training deck the next morning. Instead, Keith went to straight to breakfast, already dressed and ready for the day. He'd been mulling over what he would say to Shiro.

"Hey, Shiro, whattaya say we sidetrack a road trip to a planet with lions on it? It'll help me nab your adopted son on a date."

No matter how much he practiced, it didn't sound natural so he just swallowed the thought and walked into the kitchen.

Before he joined the others, he grabbed  a plate of pre prepared food by Hunk. He then sat down next to Shiro. The older paladin smiled fondly at him. 

"Morning, Keith. You alright?"

Keith shrugged off his nerves. "Yeah everything's fine" he said. Lance was sitting across the table from him. Instead of a usual sarcastic remark, he smiled and gave a thumbs up, egging him on. Keith cleared his throat.

"Well, I know you're trying to stay on path, but I've been doing some research and it seems that there's a a planet near us that we haven't been to yet. I think there might be some Quinn-...whatever on that planet."

Lance raised an eyebrow at the change of reason. In fact, all four of the Paladins were now looking at him weirdly.

"Which planet?" Shiro asked skeptically.

Keith fidgeted in his seat but kept a straight face. "It's called Alderaan. It's 3 miles away from our current location."

Both Shiro and Hunk's faces fell at the revelation, but Pidge beamed.

"Wow! How did we miss it? How much quintessence do you think is on that thing?" And Shiro shushed her.

"Keith. You don't know anything about this planet. It could be dangerous."

"Yeah" Hunk agreed. "Adding to that, a few miles is still miles. We can't afford it."

Keith expected this, but downright disapproval from Shiro actually hurt. He side eyed Lance while still focusing on his leader.

"C'mon, Shiro. It's for a good cause" he begged through his teeth. Shiro picked up on this right away.

"Ohhhh..."

A blush bloomed up Keith's neck but he didn't care. He could tell he was getting through to Shiro by the way he rolled his eyes.

"Okay fine. We'll make a quick pit stop. After that, we're back in space. Got it?"

Keith nodded with a grin on his face as Lance whooped and hollered with Pidge. Hunk wasn't  amused.

"Okay" he said doubtfully. "But we should probably get back to the ship as fast as possible."

Shiro nodded as they went to suit up. "That's right. Which means no messing around. Get straight to the point."

He was staring at Keith. When the other Paladins moved to find their armor, Shiro grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Don't be afraid to tell him how you feel, Keith. We're taking a big risk here."

Keith smirked. "Trust me. What could happen?"

Apparantly a lot.

Allura and Coran had provided them with transportation to the to the planet with the castle, but concerning the trek on foot it was a mutual consensus that the lions stay secure in the ship. They were left with their uniforms and beyards, which would be "plenty defense enough" in Allura's words.

In the meantime, they hung by the hangar so they could be fast to get out. Everyone was joking around except for Keith, who currently had his eyes on Lance. He had barely noticed that they had landed when the hatch suddenly opened and light flooded into the chamber. He choked back a gasp when his eyes fell upon the planet. 

The sun illuminated the honey brown land, water droplets glistening off of lush bundles of grass. A slight breeze hushed from the north and leaves ruffled in the wind. The air smelled of sweet sugar. They could barely find words.

"Wow!" Pidge exclaimed and promptly ran off the platform. Hunk bounded on after her.

"Pidge, wait!"

Lance laughed at their antics and stepped out into the sunlight. The sun shone down and kissed his face. Keith wished he were the sun.

Lance turned toward him with an outstretched hand. "Let's go see some lions."

Though the grass appeared brown, it was soft underneath Keith's boots. Even while he was tense on the ship, he could feel himself relax as he wandered in front of Lance, scoping for some wildlife.

As he ventured on, the grass became thicker and thicker, much to his appreciation. From his readings, he knew the lions would be here. Stopping to take a break, he sucked in a deep breath.

"Hey, Lance" he panted. "I think we're getting close to-"

He turned to find Lance staring at him with a smug look on his face.

"What?"

The taller boy inched closer. "What are you going at, Kogane?"

Keith knit his eyebrows in faux confusion. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Lance seemed to mull it over, like he was trying to figure out if Keith was playing with him. Before he could respond, Lance's face drained pale with fear and he dove for the grass.

"Look out!"

Keith met dirt faster than he could react, but he wasn't surprised. Instead, he crawled toward Lance, who was scrambling to get away.

"Wait, Lance! It's not what you think!" He grunted as he was pushed to the ground once more, and then flipped on his back. Staring him in the eyes was a large purple lion.

It nuzzled it's head under Keith's chin and rolled onto the ground off of his body. Keith ran his fingers through its mane.

"Look, they're friendly! Just like the log said."

Keith couldn't help but giggle as the mane tickled his neck when he caught sight of Lance ducking in the grass. In fear of getting mauled, he had chosen to stay in case Keith needed help, he realized and smiled at the thought.

The red paladin reached out a hand in beckoning.

"Cmon, Lance. He's not going to hurt you. Just trust me."

Lance's eyes darted from Lion to Keith, back to lion again. But Keith saw his face and knew that Lance trusted him. So the other boy got down on his knees and crawled toward him.

As he was nearing, another lion entered the grove, making its way toward Lance. Lance froze and the creature cocked it's head.

"Pet it" Keith suggested. "Let it get to know you. Treat him like Blue."

"This is a load of quiznak" Lance muttered but a reluctant hand hovered over the creature's snout. He stroke gingerly and the lion immediately responded, purring and laying his head low. Lance's face immediately lit up.

"Aw it likes me" he said.

Keith just stared. "I like you."

It took a moment for Lance to comprehend what he had said. When it clicked, his head whipped up and Keith could see that he was blushing.

"What was that, Keith?" Lance asked, hopefulness bubbling between words. Keith was taken aback by the positive response.

"Oh, uh-yeah, well-I..."

He couldn't get a word out before Hunk and Pidhe burst through the foliage, crystals in hand.

"There you are" Hunk panted. "We've got the quintessence, so let's get out of here." And then he added quietly, "quit lion around."

Pidge glared at Hunk. "Please don't ever make a joke like that again."

"I'm sorry."

Lance groaned. "Oh come on guys, can't we stay for a few minutes? We were getting somewhere." 

Pidge shook her head. "Not a chance. We got what we needed. Besides, Shiro didn't seem too compliant on staying here."

Lance began to sulk but concern grew. "Wait a minute, where is Shiro?"

Saying a quick goodbye to the lions , which Lance wasn't too happy about, the four Paladins raced back to the castle to search for their leader. Right now, Keith was wishing they had brought their communicators.

They finally got close enough to the castle where the clearing was and all four stumbled out of the grass onto the dirt.

For a moment it looked harmless. But by the way Shiro was flailing his arms under four lions, it appeared that he was in danger. 

"Hey, get away from him!" Lance yelled.

All of the lions looked in the boy's direction and pounced away like a few skittish squirrels. Shiro lay in a heap on the ground, wheezing for his life. Keith was quickly by his side, pulling him into a seated position.

"Shiro, what's wrong? Can you speak?"

The older man grabbed onto Keith's arms. His eyes were horribly puffy and his nose was running but he took a painful short breath and spoke.

"I'mb a liddle allergic to thuh lions" he gasped.

"Well no shit!" Pidge exclaimed. Keith put his shoulder under Shiro's arm while Hunk got the other.

"I knew this was a bad idea. I totally called it" Hunk remarked.

They got about four steps before Shiro's legs buckled beneath him and they had to resort to pulling him. He sounded like he was barely breathing.

"Oh god!"

" It's okay. He's going to be fine." 

What a failure of a date this turned out to be. 

When they got back to the castle, Shiro was placed in his room with medical observation, or to put it simply, Allura. She had her own remedies for sicknesses and reactions, so she was the most experienced with a situation such as this one.

Keith waited outside with his head in his hands while Allura worked. He failed to notice that someone had stopped to stand in front of him.

"Hey."

Keith looked up into Lance's eyes.

"Hey" he replied, glumly. The lanky boy slid down the wall to sit next to him. 

"How's he doing?"

Keith sighed, exasperated. "I don't know. I'm in the dark just as much as you are."

Lance nodded and put his head back against the wall. "That was really something."

Keith rubbed his temples. "Tell me about it. For a moment, I thought he was gonna die back there."

Lance sighed and Keith noticed how he had moved closer to him.

"I'm not talking about Shiro" he said in a low voice. "I'm talking about us."

His skin prickled at the mention.  _Us._ He would have never imagined it.

He picked at his gloves. "Is there even an us?" Lance grinned the tiniest smile. 

"There could be."

Their regular interruption was right on time. The door slid open and out stepped Allura, looking quite satisfied. Keith couldn't help himself.

"How is he?"

The princess laughed. "He'll be fine. Nothing a little Altean remedy and some nunville can't apprehend. He should be good as new tomorrow."

 Keith and Lance both sighed in relief. Allura grabbed Keith's hand before he could open the door.

"I'm just warning you that he's a little out of it. Nunville is a bit of a doozy to you humans."

Keith didn't have time to ask her what that meant before she sauntered off so he just entered the room.

"I'll leave you to it" Lance had said. "Maybe we could talk later."

Shiro was sat up against the wall, with a towel around his neck and a coughing patch on his chest. His face was relaxed and he seemed to be breathing normally to Keith's comfort. He sat on the edge of the bed, shaking him out of his daze.

"Keith? Keeeeeeeeeeith!" 

He pushed his hand away from his face. "Don't do that? How are you feeling?"

Shiro furrowed his brow like he was thinking hard about it. "What happened?"

Keith smirked. He was kind of cute like this.

"You took us to Alderaan to harvest quintessence. And so I could make a move at Lance." 

"And did you?" Shiro prodded.

"I don't know, it didn't really matter after you almost went into anaphylactic shock. Why didn't you tell me you were allergic to cats for god's sake!?"

Shiro shrugged. " I thought it might have gone away after a few years in space. Guess not."

Keith glared at him. "You could have  _died._ "

"Small price to pay for your happiness."

There it was, that self sacrificing nature. Keith resisted the urge to clobber him on the head. Now that Shiro was okay though , all he could think about was Lance.

"Well, we didn't talk much" Keith said, shyly. "But I think I got my answer."

Shiro was proud. "Baby steps. That's my boy."

"Man, shut up."

After a moment with him, Keith left Shiro so he could fully recover. Now was the time to turn him and Lance into something great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gahhh rushed ending my bad. Hope you liked<3

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> Thank you so much for reading I love you<333


End file.
